Methods and systems for providing sensory information to devices and peripherals

ABSTRACT

Peripherals and data processing systems are disclosed which can be configured to interact based upon sensor data. In at least certain embodiments, a method for sensing motion and orientation information for a device includes receiving a motion event from at least one sensor located in a device. The method further includes determining an orientation for a display of the device. The method further includes determining whether the device is currently moving. The method further includes determining whether the device moves within an angle with respect to a ground reference for a first time period. The method further includes switching the orientation of the display of the device if the device moves in excess of the angle.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Electronic devices, such as computer systems or wireless cellulartelephones or other data processing systems, may often be used withperipheral devices. A peripheral device, such as a wired or wirelessheadset or a wireless or wired keyboard or a wired or wireless cursorcontrol device, is coupled to the electronic device which may bereferred to as a host system. The peripheral typically provides inputand/or output capabilities to the electronic device.

The peripheral may also be configured to operate with only oneparticular electronic device or host. For example, a wireless headsetperipheral may be paired with a designated wireless cellular telephoneso that it communicates with that designated wireless cellular telephonerather than other wireless cellular telephones which are within radiorange of the wireless headset. This allows a user to operate thewireless headset with its designated wireless cellular telephone eventhough it may be surrounded by other wireless cellular telephones whichare within the radio range of the wireless headset. Thus, the wirelessheadset in this case includes some intelligence or data which allows itto selectively operate with a designated host system, but there is nofurther processing or sensing capability in the wireless headset. ABluetooth pairing or partnership is an example of a relationship createdbetween a peripheral and a host. It is created by the user in order toexchange information in a secure manner. Creating a Bluetoothpartnership between two devices involves entering the same personalidentification number (PIN) or passkey on both devices; creating such apartnership is a one-time process. Once a partnership is created, thedevices can recognize the partnership and exchange information withoutentering a PIN again.

Certain electronic devices described previously include sensors forvarious purposes. However, these sensors (e.g., an accelerometer sensor,a proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor) can not properly detectand distinguish whether an intentional or unintentional user actioncauses the occurrence of motion and/or orientation information for thedevice. For example, unintentional movements of a device can triggerimproper configurations for the device. An unintentional movement mayinclude a device moving with a user who is jogging or if a user quicklyplaces a device on a surface causing the device to move for a short timeperiod. The sensors are also not able to determine interactions betweenan associated peripheral and the device.

SUMMARY OF THE DESCRIPTION

At least certain embodiments of the disclosures relate to peripheralswhich include at least one sensor which senses a state of theperipheral. In these embodiments, a peripheral and/or a host to which itis coupled may be capable of altering one or more configurations of theperipheral or the host or both in response to the data from the at leastone sensor.

In at least certain embodiments, a method for sensing motion andorientation information for a device includes receiving a motion eventfrom at least one sensor located in a device. The method furtherincludes determining an orientation for the device. The method furtherincludes determining whether the device is currently moving. The methodfurther includes determining whether the device moves within an anglewith respect to a ground reference for a first time period. The methodfurther includes switching the orientation of a display of the device ifthe device moves in excess of the angle. The method further includesswitching the orientation if the device moves within the angle for atleast the first time period. The method further includes determiningwhether the currently moving device moves for a second time period,determining if the orientation is portrait if the device is not movingor if the device moves for at least the second time period, andswitching the orientation if the orientation was not portrait.

In at least certain embodiments, a method for sensing an orientationbetween a device and an associated peripheral includes determining adevice vector associated with a device. The device vector indicates anorientation of the device to a ground reference. The method furtherincludes determining a peripheral vector associated with the peripheralof the device. The peripheral vector indicates an orientation of theperipheral to the ground reference. The method further includesgenerating an audio signal associated with an event from the device. Themethod further includes determining whether the peripheral vector pointstowards the device vector in response to the audio signal. The methodfurther includes silencing the audio signal if the peripheral vectorpoints towards the device vector in response to the audio signal.

In at least certain embodiments, a peripheral and its associated dataprocessing system, which may be considered a host system, may be capableof working together to determine a user's intent or actions based onsensor data from at least one sensor on the peripheral or the host orboth. For example, a set of sensors (such as, for example, anaccelerometer sensor, proximity sensor and an ambient light sensor) onthe peripheral may provide data which indicate that the peripheral isnot proximate to the user while another set of sensors on the host mayprovide data which indicate that the host is near to the user's ear. Theperipheral may include a peripheral interface to couple the peripheralto the data processing system, at least one peripheral sensor to sense auser of the peripheral; a peripheral processor coupled to the peripheralinterface and to the at least one peripheral sensor. The peripheralprocessor is configured to determine a peripheral vector indicating anorientation of the peripheral to a ground reference. The device mayinclude an interface to couple the device to the peripheral. The devicemay further include at least one sensor to sense the user, a processorcoupled to the interface and to the at least one sensor. The processoris configured to determine a device vector indicating an orientation ofthe device to the ground reference, initiate an audio signal associatedwith an event, and determine whether the peripheral vector pointstowards the device vector in response to the audio signal.

Other systems and methods are also described, and machine readablemedia, which contain executable instructions to cause a machine tooperate as described herein, are also described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example and notlimitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which likereferences indicate similar elements.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system which includes an example of aperipheral and an example of a data processing system which is used withthe peripheral.

FIG. 2A is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the disclosuresdescribed herein.

FIG. 2B shows a view of a data processing system (e.g. a wireless mobilecellular telephone) in relation to a ground reference in an embodimentof the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 2C shows a view of a data processing system (e.g. a wireless mobilecellular telephone) in relation to a ground reference in anotherembodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 3A is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the disclosuresdescribed herein.

FIG. 3B shows a view of a device vector in relation to a peripheralvector in an embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 3C shows a view of a device vector in relation to a peripheralvector in another embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 4A is a perspective view of a portable data processing system inaccordance with one embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 4B is a perspective view of a portable data processing system inaccordance with one embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 4C is a perspective view of a portable data processing system in afirst configuration (e.g. in an opened configuration) in accordance withone embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 4D is a perspective view of a portable data processing system in asecond configuration (e.g. in a closed configuration) in accordance withone embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a data processing system in whichembodiments of the disclosures can be implemented.

FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a proximity sensor in accordance withone embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 7 is a schematic side view of an alternative proximity sensor inaccordance with one embodiment of the disclosures described herein.

FIG. 8 shows, in block diagram form, an example of a data processingsystem which may be used with one or more embodiments described herein.

FIG. 9 shows, in block diagram form, a data processing system with twoperipherals and a dock or other connector which couples the peripheralsto the data processing system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments and aspects of the disclosures will be describedwith reference to details discussed below, and the accompanying drawingswill illustrate the various embodiments. The following description anddrawings are illustrative of the invention and are not to be construedas limiting the invention. Numerous specific details are described toprovide a through understanding of various embodiments of the presentinvention. However, in certain instances, well-known or conventionaldetails are not described in order to provide a concise discussion ofembodiments of the present disclosures.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented interms of algorithms which include operations on data stored within acomputer memory. An algorithm is generally a self-consistent sequence ofoperations leading to a desired result. The operations typically requireor involve physical manipulations of physical quantities. Usually,though not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical ormagnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined,compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient at times,principally for reasons of common usage, to refer to these signals asbits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or thelike.

It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar termsare to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and aremerely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unlessspecifically stated otherwise as apparent from the following discussion,it is appreciated that throughout the description, discussions utilizingterms such as “processing” or “computing” or “calculating” or“determining” or “displaying” or the like, can refer to the action andprocesses of a data processing system, or similar electronic device,that manipulates and transforms data represented as physical(electronic) quantities within the system's registers and memories intoother data similarly represented as physical quantities within thesystem's memories or registers or other such information storage,transmission or display devices.

The present invention can relate to an apparatus for performing one ormore of the operations described herein. This apparatus may be speciallyconstructed for the required purposes, or it may comprise a generalpurpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computerprogram stored in the computer. Such a computer program may includeinstructions for performing the operations described herein and may bestored in a machine (e.g. computer) readable storage medium, such as,but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks, opticaldisks, CD-ROMs, and magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories (ROMs),random access memories (RAMs), erasable programmable ROMs (EPROMs),electrically erasable programmable ROMs (EEPROMs), magnetic or opticalcards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a bus.

A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing ortransmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., acomputer). For example, a machine-readable medium includes read onlymemory (“ROM”); random access memory (“RAM”); magnetic disk storagemedia; optical storage media; flash memory devices; electrical, optical,acoustical or other form of propagated signals (e.g., carrier waves,infrared signals, digital signals, etc.); etc.

FIG. 1 shows an example of a system 200 which includes a peripheral 201,which may also be referred to as an accessory, and a data processingsystem 203 which is designed to exchange data with the peripheral 201.In the example of FIG. 1, the peripheral 201 may be a wireless headsetwhich communicates with the data processing system 203 through awireless personal area network (WPAN) interface, such as a Bluetoothinterface, and the data processing system 203 may be a wireless mobilecellular telephone or a personal digital assistant (PDA) which alsoincludes a wireless mobile cellular telephone or a general purposecomputer system, such as a handheld computer which includes a wirelessmobile cellular telephone. It will be appreciated that while aparticular type of peripheral and a particular type of data processingsystem are shown in FIG. 1, other types of peripherals and dataprocessing systems may be used in alternative embodiments. For example,in alternative embodiments, a peripheral may be a wired headset or awired or wireless keyboard or a wired or wireless cursor control deviceor other wired or wireless input or output devices; in other cases, theperipheral may be considered to be a data processing device which issimilar to a PDA or cellular telephone or general purpose computersystem. In alternative embodiments, the data processing system may be ageneral purpose computer system, or special purpose computer system, oran entertainment system, or a PDA or an embedded device within anotherdevice, or a media player, etc. The peripheral 201 includes a peripheralprocessor 205 which is coupled to one or more sensors 211, an audiotransducer 213 (which may be a speaker), a microphone 209, and awireless transceiver 207. The peripheral processor 205 controls theoperation of peripheral 201 by operating the wireless transceiver 207,which may be, for example, a Bluetooth or WiFi transceiver or othertypes of transceivers used to create a wireless local area network(WLAN) or a WPAN, and by operating the microphone 209 and the audiotransducer 213, in response to signals from the wireless transceiverand/or the sensors and/or processes executing on the peripheralprocessor 205. The peripheral processor 205 may be coupled to audiocodecs (not shown) or other devices to drive or receive input from theaudio transducer and the microphone respectively. In the case whereperipheral 201 is a wireless headset for a telephone, the wirelesstransceiver 207 establishes a wireless communication link with atelephone which acts as a host data processing system and which sendsaudio data to be played by the speaker (audio transducer 213) and whichreceives audio data from the microphone 209. Thus, the wireless headsetacts in the same manner as a wired headset on a telephone. The sensors211 may be one or more sensors on the peripheral 201 which are designedto detect or measure user activity or a device context. The sensors 211may include, for example, a proximity sensor and/or an ambient lightsensor and/or an accelerometer and/or other sensors described herein.The sensor(s) 211 provides sensor data (e.g. proximity data) to theperipheral processor 205 which may process this data or may transmit, asdescribed below, the sensor data to the data processing system forprocessing.

The data processing system 203 includes a processing system 221, such asa set of one or more microprocessors, which is coupled to a wirelessmobile telephony transceiver 223; the wireless mobile telephonytransceiver 223 may be a wireless mobile cellular telephone transceiverwhich is, to at least some extent, controlled by the processing system221. In one embodiment, the data processing system 203 may be a handheldPDA or handheld general purpose computer which includes a wirelesscellular telephone. In this case, the RF circuitry needed for thewireless cellular telephone may be provided by the wireless mobiletelephony transceiver 223. The data processing system 203 also includesone or more sensors 227, memory 229,1/0 devices 231 and at least oneadditional wireless transceiver 225, each of which are coupled to theprocessing system 221. The processing system 221 may include a set ofone or more microprocessors which are coupled to the rest of the dataprocessing system 203 through one or more buses. The one or more sensors227 may be located on the data processing system 203 and may be designedto detect or measure user activity or a device context as explainedfurther in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/638,251, which isincorporated herein by reference. The one or more sensors 227 mayinclude, for example, a proximity sensor and/or an ambient light sensorand/or an accelerometer and/or other sensors described herein. Thesensor data from these one or more sensors 227 is provided to theprocessing system 221 which may process this data or may transmit thissensor data to the peripheral for processing, as described herein, orboth of the peripheral and the processing system 221 may process thesensor data. The I/O (input/output) devices 231 may include one or moreof (a) a keyboard; (b) a touch input panel; (c) a cursor control device(such as, e.g., a joystick or trackpad); (d) speaker; (e) microphone;(f) buttons (such as, e.g., “send” and “end” or other buttons for acellular telephone); (g) a display device; and (h) other knowninput/output devices. In one embodiment, a touch input panel may beintegrated with a display device to provide both input and outputcapabilities on the same surface of the display device; this isdescribed further below. These I/O devices allow a user to enterinstructions or commands or data to the processing system 221 to causethe system to operate in a manner desired by the user. The memory 229may be any combination of DRAM or flash memory or other types of memoryincluding, for example, a magnetic hard drive, and the memory 229 may becoupled to the processing system through one or more memory controllers;the memory 229 may store computer program instructions, including acomputer operation system (OS) and user application programs, such as,for example, a web browser application, an email application, a calendarprogram, an address book application, and other possible applications.The memory 229 may also store user data such as, for example, addressand/or contact information, calendar information (e.g. events andtasks), bookmarks/favorites (e.g. “URLs”) and other user data (e.g. wordprocessing documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc.). The processingsystem 221 may retrieve and store computer program instructions and datafrom the memory 229 in order to allow the user to operate the dataprocessing system 203. Moreover, the memory 229 may store music and/orother media for playback on the data processing system 203, which canallow the user to display and select music and/or other media forplayback on a speaker (e.g. an earphone) or a wireless headset of aperipheral, such as peripheral 201. The wireless transceiver(s) 225 mayinclude one or more wireless transceivers which provide wirelessconnectivity to other devices, such as the peripheral 201 or a wirelessnetwork (e.g. a WiFi network or other wireless local area networks(WLAN) or a wireless personal area network (WPAN), etc.). The wirelesstransceiver(s) 225 are coupled to the processing system 221 to providedata to the data processing system 203. In one embodiment, the wirelesstransceiver(s) 225 include a Bluetooth compliant transceiver to couplewirelessly the data processing system 203 to the peripheral 201 andoptionally other peripherals (e.g. a wireless keyboard) and a WiFicompliant transceiver (e.g. IEEE 802.11 a/g compliant transceiver) towirelessly couple the system 203 to a wireless network and/or otherdevices. The peripheral 201 and the data processing system 203 may bepaired together using known techniques, such as the techniques describedherein, to create a Bluetooth partnership. The pairing may alternativelyinvolve other techniques which register one device with another deviceto provide a secure, authenticated communication channel between theperipheral 201 and the data processing system 203.

In one embodiment, the peripheral 201 and the data processing system 203may be capable of working together to determine a user's intent oractions or the system's context based on sensor data from at least onesensor on the peripheral 201 or the data processing system 203 or both.For example, a set of sensors, such as, for example, a proximity sensorand an ambient light sensor on the peripheral may provide data whichindicate that the peripheral is not proximate to the user, while anotherset of sensors on the host may provide data which indicate that the hostis near to the user's ear; in this situation, the peripheral and thehost may exchange data, such as data from the sensors and instructionswhich automatically cause a change in configuration of the peripheraland/or the host in response to the sensor data. If, in this example, theperipheral is a wireless headset and the host is a wireless cellulartelephone, then the peripheral may transmit its sensor data to the hostwhich processes this sensor data along with sensor data from the host todetermine various configurations for the host and/or peripheral. Forexample, a proper orientation (e.g., landscape or portrait) for thewireless cellular telephone may be determined based on the peripheralsensing that the user is lying down while viewing the wireless cellulartelephone.

In some embodiments, the peripheral 201 may include a peripheralinterface 207 to couple the peripheral 201 to a device such as the dataprocessing system 203 and at least one peripheral sensor 211 to sense auser of the peripheral 201. The peripheral 201 may further include aperipheral processor 205 coupled to the peripheral interface 207 and tothe at least one peripheral sensor 211. The peripheral processor 205 isconfigured to determine a peripheral vector indicating an orientation ofthe peripheral 201 to a ground reference while being worn by a user. Thedevice may include an interface 225 to couple the device to theperipheral 201. The device may further include at least one sensor 227to sense the user, a processor 221 coupled to the interface 225 and tothe at least one sensor 227. The processor 221 is configured todetermine a device vector indicating an orientation of the device to theground reference, initiate an audio signal associated with an event orevents (e.g., a calendar event, a phone call, an alarm event, a to doevent, an email event, and/or a reminder event) and determine whetherthe peripheral vector points towards the device vector in response tothe audio signal. The peripheral vector points towards the device vectorin response to the audio signal based on the peripheral vector notpointing towards the device vector prior to the audio signal beinggenerated.

In at least certain embodiments, the processor 221 is further configuredto ignore the audio signal if the peripheral vector does not pointtowards the device vector in response to the audio signal. For example,the peripheral vector may not point towards the device vector inresponse to the audio signal if the peripheral vector points towards thedevice vector prior to and after the audio signal is generated. In thisexample, no change in the direction of the peripheral vector occurs inresponse to the audio signal.

In some embodiments, the peripheral interface 207 includes a wirelesstransceiver which wirelessly couples the device to the peripheral 201.The peripheral 201 further includes a speaker or audio transducer 213coupled to the peripheral interface 207 and a microphone 209 coupled tothe peripheral interface 207. The wireless transceiver transmits firstaudio data from the microphone 209 to the device. The wirelesstransceiver receives second audio data from the device and passes thesecond audio data to the speaker. The device includes a wireless mobiletelephone transceiver 223.

In one embodiment, at least one of the peripheral processor 205 and theprocessor 221 receive data from at least one of the at least oneperipheral sensor 211 and the at least one sensor and determine, basedon the data, whether to use the speaker and the microphone 209 for aphone call communicated through the wireless mobile telephonetransceiver. The at least one peripheral sensor 211 includes at leastone of (a) a proximity sensor; (b) an ambient light sensor; (c) atemperature sensor; (d) an accelerometer; (e) a position sensor; (f) anorientation sensor; and (g) a sound sensor; and wherein the at least onesensor comprises at least one of (a) a proximity sensor; (b) an ambientlight sensor; (c) a temperature sensor; (d) an accelerometer; (e) aposition sensor; (f) an orientation sensor; and (g) a sound sensor. Theperipheral processor 211 may configure the speaker and the processor 221automatically in response to outputs from the at least one peripheralsensor 211 and the at least one sensor 227.

At least certain embodiments of the disclosures may include a digitalmedia player, such as a portable music and/or video media player, whichmay include a media processing system to present the media, a storagedevice to store the media and may further include a radio frequency (RF)transceiver (e.g., an RF transceiver for a cellular telephone) coupledwith an antenna system and the media processing system. In certainembodiments, media stored on a remote storage device may be transmittedto the media player through the RF transceiver. The media may be, forexample, one or more of music or other audio, still pictures, or motionpictures.

The portable media player may include a media selection device, such asa click wheel input device on an iPod® or iPod Nano® media player fromApple Computer, Inc. of Cupertino, Calif., a touch screen input device,pushbutton device, movable pointing input device or other input device.The media selection device may be used to select the media stored on thestorage device and/or the remote storage device. The portable mediaplayer may, in at least certain embodiments, include a display devicewhich is coupled to the media processing system to display titles orother indicators of media being selected through the input device andbeing presented, either through a speaker or earphone(s), or on thedisplay device, or on both display device and a speaker or earphone(s).Examples of a portable media player are described in published U.S.patent application numbers 2003/0095096 and 2004/0224638, both of whichare incorporated herein by reference.

Embodiments of the disclosures described herein may be part of othertypes of data processing systems, such as, for example, entertainmentsystems or personal digital assistants (PDAs), or general purposecomputer systems, or special purpose computer systems, or an embeddeddevice within another device, or cellular telephones which do notinclude media players, or devices which combine aspects or functions ofthese devices (e.g., a media player, such as an iPod®, combined with aPDA, an entertainment system, and a cellular telephone in one portabledevice).

FIG. 2A is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the disclosuresdescribed herein. In at least certain embodiments, a method 250 sensesmotion and orientation information for a display of a device. Forexample, a user may be using the device to browse the internet.Determining the proper orientation of the display such as landscape orportrait ensures that content being browsed is displayed in accordancewith the aspect ratio of the display. The method 250 includes receivinga motion event from at least one sensor located in a device at block252. For example, an accelerometer sensor may sense motion in an X, Y,and/or Z axis direction. The method 250 further includes determining acurrent orientation for the device at block 254. The method 250 furtherincludes determining whether the device is currently moving at block256. The accelerometer may provide the previous X, Y, and Z informationwith the current X, Y, and/or Z information to a processor, whichcompares the X, Y, and Z information with a threshold value(s) todetermine if the device is moving.

In one embodiment, if the device is not currently moving at block 256,then a previous or a default orientation (e.g., portrait, landscape,upside down, face up, face down, or ambiguous) is determined at block258. For example, portrait may be the default orientation. If thecurrent orientation has changed compared to the previous or defaultorientation, then a software application being used by the devicereceives a message or call to switch the orientation to the currentorientation of the device at block 264.

In another embodiment, if the device has a portrait orientation at block258, then the method 250 further includes determining whether the devicemoved based on the event at 252 within a shallow angle (e.g., 20-30degree shallow angle) with respect to a ground reference at block 260.If not, then the software application receives a message or call toswitch the device orientation at block 264 because presumably anintentional action of the user caused a motion event forming an anglegreater than the shallow angle with respect to the ground reference.

In some embodiments, if it is determined that the device forms a shallowangle with respect to the ground reference for a first time period atblock 262, then the software application receives a message or call toswitch the orientation at block 264 because presumably an intentionalaction of the user caused a motion event forming a shallow angle withrespect to the ground reference for at least the first time period.Alternatively, a device that spends a short time less than the firsttime period within the shallow angle of the ground reference is likelyto have been accidentally placed in this position. In this example, themethod 250 returns to block 252 to wait for a new motion event.

Returning to block 256, the method 250 further includes determiningwhether the currently moving device (block 256) moves for a second timeperiod at block 266. If the movement occurs for at least the second timeperiod, then the method 250 continues to block 258 because presumablythe movement occurring for more than the second time is likely anintentional user action. Otherwise, the method 250 continues back toblock 252 to wait for a new motion event.

In at least certain embodiments, the method 250 determines a properorientation of a display of a device as discussed above. The method 250enables a proper orientation of the display to avoid an accidentalswitch from one orientation to another. For example, an accidental orunintentional switch may occur based on a user dropping a device,sliding a device across a table, or running with a device causing asensor in the device to mistakenly believe the orientation has changedbased on motion information being sensed.

FIG. 2B shows a view of a data processing system (e.g., a device such asa wireless mobile cellular telephone) in relation to a ground referencein an embodiment of the disclosures described herein. A data processingsystem 245 having an imaginary axis 249 forms an angle 247 with respectto a ground reference 240 (e.g., ground, floor, table, shelf, horizontalsurface). The method 250 has a shallow angle 242 formed between animaginary line 249 and the ground reference 240. For example, at block260 the method 250 determines whether the device moved based on theevent at 252 within a shallow angle (e.g., 20-30 degree shallow angle)with respect to a ground reference. In FIG. 2B, the device 250 forms theangle 247 that exceeds the shallow angle 242. In this example, theorientation switches because the event causing the angle 247 is likelyan intentional action. However, FIG. 2C illustrates a potentiallyaccidentally action.

FIG. 2C shows a view of a data processing system (e.g. a wireless mobilecellular telephone) in relation to a ground reference in anotherembodiment of the disclosures described herein. A data processing system280 having an imaginary axis 284 forms an angle 282 with respect to aground reference 270 (e.g., ground, floor, table, shelf, horizontalsurface). The method 250 has a shallow angle 272 formed between animaginary line 274 and the ground reference 240. The device 280 formsthe angle 282 within the shallow angle 272. In this example, theorientation will only switch if the device spends a sufficient amount oftime (first time period at block 262) in order for the event causing theangle 282 to be an intentional action.

FIG. 3A is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the disclosuresdescribed herein. The method 300 includes determining a device vectorassociated with a device at block 302. The device vector indicates anorientation of the device to a ground reference. The method 300 furtherincludes determining a peripheral vector associated with a peripheral ofthe device at block 304. The peripheral vector indicates an orientationof the peripheral to the ground reference. The method 300 furtherincludes generating an audio signal associated with an event (e.g., acalendar event, a phone call, an alarm event, a to do event, an emailevent, and/or a reminder event) of the device at block 306. The method300 further includes determining whether the peripheral vector pointstowards the device vector in response to the audio signal at block 308.The method 300 further includes silencing the audio signal at block 310if the peripheral vector points towards the device vector in response tothe audio signal. For example, the peripheral vector points towards thedevice vector in response to the audio signal based on the peripheralvector not pointing towards the device vector prior to the audio signalbeing generated and then pointing towards the device vector during thegeneration of the audio signal.

The method 300 further includes ignoring the audio signal at block 312if the peripheral vector does not point towards the device vector inresponse to the audio signal. For example, the peripheral vector doesnot point towards the device vector in response to the audio signalbased on the peripheral vector pointing towards the device vector priorto and during the generating of the audio signal. Alternatively, if theperipheral vector points away from the device vector prior to and duringthe generation of the audio signal, then the audio signal will not besilenced.

FIG. 3B shows a view of a device vector in relation to a peripheralvector in an embodiment of the disclosures described herein. The devicevector 320 points away from the peripheral vector 322.

FIG. 3C shows a view of a device vector in relation to a peripheralvector in another embodiment of the disclosures described herein. Thedevice vector 324 points towards the peripheral vector 326.

In some embodiments, as discussed at block 308, a peripheral vector maypoint towards the device vector in response to the audio signal. Forexample, FIG. 3B may represent an initial time period with the deviceand peripheral vectors pointing away from each other. Then, an audiosignal is generated associated with an event from the device asdiscussed at block 306. In response to the audio signal, a user wearingthe peripheral turns towards the device which is illustrated by thevectors in FIG. 3C. Then, the audio signal generated by the device wouldbe silenced as discussed at block 310.

In one embodiment, the audio signal discussed in FIG. 3A represents avoice command. A user may acknowledge the voice command by nodding upand down in which case the peripheral vector moves in a verticaldirection with respect to a ground reference. Alternatively, a user mayreject the voice command by nodding from side to side in which case theperipheral vector moves in a horizontal direction with respect to theground reference.

In another embodiment, a user is using a software application to browsethe internet. The combination of device and peripheral vectors canresult in the device knowing that the user is currently viewing contentsuch as a web page from the internet. In this example, the device may beconfigured with a default time period(s) before the device is lockedand/or the display of the device is dimmed. Based on the device knowingthat the user is currently viewing the web page, the device can changethe previously discussed time period(s) to create a more satisfactoryuser experience without the user having to change the default timeperiod(s).

In another embodiment, a user is lying on a horizontal surface (e.g.,couch, floor, etc.) while interacting and/or looking at the device. Adevice vector may indicate that an axis 249 of the device is parallel toa ground reference and thus a display of the device should be presentedin a landscape orientation. However, if the device knows that the useris lying on the horizontal surface based on a peripheral vector, then itmay be preferable for the device to remain in a portrait orientation.

FIG. 4A shows a portable device 50 in accordance with one embodiment ofthe invention. The portable device 50 may include a housing 52, adisplay/input device 54, a speaker 56, a microphone 58 and an optionalantenna 60 (which may be visible on the exterior of the housing or maybe concealed within the housing). The portable device 50 also mayinclude a proximity sensor 62 and an accelerometer 64 and optionallyother sensors (e.g. an ambient light sensor). The portable device 50 maybe a cellular telephone or a device which is an integrated PDA and acellular telephone or a device which is an integrated media player and acellular telephone or a device which is both an entertainment system(e.g. for playing games) and a cellular telephone, or the portabledevice 50 may be other types of devices described herein. In oneparticular embodiment, the portable device 50 may include a cellulartelephone and a media player and a general purpose computer, allcontained within the housing 52. The portable device 50 may beimplemented as an embodiment of the data processing system 203 shown inFIG. 1 and may operate with a peripheral in a manner which is shown inFIG. 1 and is described in the present disclosures. The portable device50 may have a form factor which is small enough that it fits within thehand of a normal adult and is light enough that it can be carried in onehand by an adult. It will be appreciated that the term “portable” meansthe device can be easily held in an adult user's hands (one or both);for example, a laptop computer and an iPod are portable devices.

In one embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4A, the display/input device 54occupies a large portion of one surface (e.g. the top surface) of thehousing 52 of the portable device 50. In one embodiment, thedisplay/input device 54 consumes substantially the entire front surfaceof the portable device 50. In another embodiment, the display/inputdevice 54 consumes, for example, at least 75% of a front surface of thehousing 52 of the portable device 50. In alternative embodiments, theportable device 50 may include a display which does not have inputcapabilities, but the display still occupies a large portion of onesurface of the portable device 50. In this case, the portable device 50may include other types of input devices such as a QWERTY keyboard orother types of keyboard which slide out or swing out from a portion ofthe portable device 50.

FIG. 4B illustrates a data processing system according to one embodimentof the invention; this data processing system of FIG. 4B may beimplemented as an embodiment of the data processing system 203 shown inFIG. 1. FIG. 4B shows a wireless device in a telephone configurationhaving a “candy-bar” style. In FIG. 4B, the wireless device 30 mayinclude a housing 32, a display device 34, an input device 36 which maybe an alphanumeric keypad, a speaker 38, a microphone 40 and an antenna42. The wireless device 30 also may include a proximity sensor 44 and anaccelerometer 46. It will be appreciated that the embodiment of FIG. 4Bmay use more or fewer sensors and may have a different form factor fromthe form factor shown in FIG. 4B.

The display device 34 is shown positioned at an upper portion of thehousing 32, and the input device 36 is shown positioned at a lowerportion of the housing 32. The antenna 42 is shown extending from thehousing 32 at an upper portion of the housing 32. The speaker 38 is alsoshown at an upper portion of the housing 32 above the display device 34.The microphone 40 is shown at a lower portion of the housing 32, belowthe input device 36. It will be appreciated that the speaker 38 andmicrophone 40 can be positioned at any location on the housing, but aretypically positioned in accordance with a user's ear and mouth,respectively. The proximity sensor 44 is shown at or near the speaker 38and at least partially within the housing 32. The accelerometer 46 isshown at a lower portion of the housing 32 and within the housing 32. Itwill be appreciated that the particular locations of the above-describedfeatures may vary in alternative embodiments.

The display device 34 may be, for example, a liquid crystal display(LCD) which does not include the ability to accept inputs or a touchinput screen which also includes an LCD. The input device 36 mayinclude, for example, buttons, switches, dials, sliders, keys or keypad,navigation pad, touch pad, touch screen, and the like.

Any well-known speaker, microphone and antenna can be used for speaker38, microphone 40 and antenna 42, respectively.

The proximity sensor 44 may detect location (e.g. distance from thewireless device 30), direction, speed, etc. of objects relative to thewireless device 30. A location of an object relative to the wirelessdevice can be represented as a distance in at least certain embodiments.The proximity sensor may generate location or movement data or both,which may be used to determine the location of objects relative to theportable device 30 and/or proximity sensor 44. An example of a proximitysensor is shown in FIG. 6.

In addition, a processing device (not shown) is coupled to the proximitysensor(s) 44. The processing device may be used to determine thelocation of objects relative to the portable device 30 or proximitysensor 44 or both based on the location and/or movement data provided bythe proximity sensor 44. The proximity sensor may continuously orperiodically monitor the object location. The proximity sensor may alsobe able to determine the type of object it is detecting.

Additional information about proximity sensors can be found in U.S.patent application Ser. No. 11/241,839, titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR INHANDHELD DEVICE,” and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/240,788,titled “PROXIMITY DETECTOR IN HANDHELD DEVICE;” U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 11/165,958, titled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR REMOTELYDETECTING PRESENCE,” filed Jun. 23, 2005; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,583,676,titled “PROXIMITY/TOUCH DETECTOR AND CALIBRATION CIRCUIT,” issued Jun.24, 2003, all of which are incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

According to one embodiment, the accelerometer 46 is able to detect amovement including an acceleration or de-acceleration of the wirelessdevice. The accelerometer 46 may generate movement data for multipledimensions, which may be used to determine a direction of movement ofthe wireless device. For example, the accelerometer 46 may generate X, Yand Z axis acceleration information when the accelerometer 46 detectsthat the portable device is moved. In one embodiment, the accelerometer46 may be implemented as described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,520,013, which isincorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Alternatively, theaccelerometer 46 may be a KGF01 accelerometer from Kionix or an ADXL311accelerometer from Analog Devices or other accelerometers which areknown in the art.

In addition, a processing device (not shown) is coupled to theaccelerometer(s) 46. The processing device may be used to calculate adirection of movement, also referred to as a movement vector of thewireless device 30. The movement vector may be determined according toone or more predetermined formulas based on the movement data (e.g.,movement in X, Y and Z) provided by accelerometer 46. The processingdevice may be integrated with the accelerometer 46 or integrated withother components, such as, for example, a chipset of a microprocessor,of the portable device.

The accelerometer 46 may continuously or periodically monitor themovement of the portable device. As a result, an orientation of theportable device prior to the movement and after the movement may bedetermined based on the movement data provided by the accelerometerattached to the portable device.

Additional information about accelerometers can be found in co-pendingU.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/986,730, filed Nov. 12, 2004, whichis hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The data acquired from the proximity sensor 44 and the accelerometer 46can be combined together, or used alone, to gather information about theuser's activities. The data from the proximity sensor 44, theaccelerometer 46 or both can be used, for example, toactivate/deactivate a display backlight, initiate commands, makeselections, control scrolling or other movement in a display, controlinput device settings, or to make other changes to one or more settingsof the device. For example, an orientation of the display 34 can bealtered based on one or more sensors of the device 30. Information froma peripheral as shown in FIG. 1 can alter settings in the device 30 suchas silencing an alarm generated by the device 30 if the peripheralvector changes direction in response to the alarm.

FIGS. 4C and 4D illustrate a portable device 70 according to oneembodiment of the invention. The portable device 70 may be implementedas an embodiment of the data processing system 203 shown in FIG. 1 andmay operate with a peripheral in a manner which is shown in FIGS. 3A-3Cand is described relative to FIGS. 3A-3C and the present disclosures.The portable device 70 may be a cellular telephone which includes ahinge 87 that couples a display housing 89 to a keypad housing 91. Thehinge 87 allows a user to open and close the cellular telephone so thatit can be placed in at least one of two different configurations shownin FIGS. 4C and 4D. In one particular embodiment, the hinge 87 mayrotatably couple the display housing to the keypad housing. Inparticular, a user can open the cellular telephone to place it in theopen configuration shown in FIG. 4C and can close the cellular telephoneto place it in the closed configuration shown in FIG. 4D. The keypadhousing 91 may include a keypad 95 which receives inputs (e.g. telephonenumber inputs or other alphanumeric inputs) from a user and a microphone97 which receives voice input from the user. The display housing 89 mayinclude, on its interior surface, a display 93 (e.g. an LCD) and aspeaker 98 and a proximity sensor 84; on its exterior surface, thedisplay housing 89 may include a speaker 96, a temperature sensor 94, adisplay 88 (e.g. another LCD), an ambient light sensor 92, and aproximity sensor 84A. Hence, in this embodiment, the display housing 89may include a first proximity sensor on its interior surface and asecond proximity sensor on its exterior surface. The first proximitysensor may be used to detect a user's head or ear being within a certaindistance of the first proximity sensor and to cause an illuminationsetting of displays 93 and 88 to be changed automatically in response tothis detecting (e.g. the illumination for both displays are turned offor otherwise set in a reduced power state). Data from the secondproximity sensor, along with data from the ambient light sensor 92 anddata from the temperature sensor 94, may be used to detect that thecellular telephone has been placed into the user's pocket.

In at least certain embodiments, the portable device 70 may containcomponents which provide one or more of the functions of a wirelesscommunication device such as a cellular telephone, a media player, anentertainment system, a PDA, or other types of devices described herein.In one implementation of an embodiment, the portable device 70 may be acellular telephone integrated with a media player which plays MP3 files,such as MP3 music files.

Each of the devices shown in FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D may be a wirelesscommunication device, such as a wireless cellular telephone, and mayinclude a plurality of components which provide a capability forwireless communication. FIG. 5 shows an embodiment of a wireless device100 which includes the capability for wireless communication. Thewireless device 100 may be included in any one of the devices shown inFIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D, although alternative embodiments of thosedevices of FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C and 4D may include more or fewer componentsthan the wireless device 100. Furthermore, all or portions of wirelessdevice 100 may be implemented as part of data processing system 203, andwireless device 100 may operate with a peripheral in a manner which isdescribed in the present disclosures.

Wireless device 100 may include an antenna system 101. Wireless device100 may also include a digital and/or analog radio frequency (RF)transceiver 102, coupled to the antenna system 101, to transmit and/orreceive voice, digital data and/or media signals through antenna system101.

Wireless device 100 may also include a digital processing system 103 tocontrol the digital RF transceiver and to manage the voice, digital dataand/or media signals. Digital processing system 103 may be a generalpurpose processing device, such as a microprocessor or controller forexample. Digital processing system 103 may also be a special purposeprocessing device, such as an ASIC (application specific integratedcircuit), FPGA (field-programmable gate array) or DSP (digital signalprocessor). Digital processing system 103 may also include otherdevices, as are known in the art, to interface with other components ofwireless device 100. For example, digital processing system 103 mayinclude analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters to interfacewith other components of wireless device 100. Digital processing system103 may include a media processing system 109, which may also include ageneral purpose or special purpose processing device to manage media,such as files of audio data.

Wireless device 100 may also include a storage device 104, coupled tothe digital processing system, to store data and/or operating programsfor the wireless device 100. Storage device 104 may be, for example, anytype of solid-state or magnetic memory device.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more input devices 105,coupled to the digital processing system 103, to accept user inputs(e.g., telephone numbers, names, addresses, media selections, etc.)Input device 105 may be, for example, one or more of a keypad, atouchpad, a touch screen, a pointing device in combination with adisplay device or similar input device.

Wireless device 100 may also include at least one display device 106,coupled to the digital processing system 103, to display informationsuch as messages, telephone call information, contact information,pictures, movies and/or titles or other indicators of media beingselected via the input device 105. Display device 106 may be, forexample, an LCD display device. The display device 106 may include abacklight 106 a to illuminate the display device 106 under certaincircumstances. It will be appreciated that the wireless device 100 mayinclude multiple displays.

Wireless device 100 may also include a battery 107 to supply operatingpower to components of the system including digital RF transceiver 102,digital processing system 103, storage device 104, input device 105,microphone 105A, audio transducer 108, media processing system 109,sensor(s) 110, and display device 106. Battery 107 may be, for example,a rechargeable or non-rechargeable lithium or nickel metal hydridebattery.

Wireless device 100 may also include audio transducers 108, which mayinclude one or more speakers, and at least one microphone 105A.

Wireless device 100 may also include one or more sensors 110 coupled tothe digital processing system 103. The sensor(s) 110 may include, forexample, one or more of a proximity sensor, accelerometer, touch inputpanel, ambient light sensor, ambient noise sensor, temperature sensor,gyroscope, a hinge detector, a position determination device, anorientation determination device, a motion sensor, a sound sensor, aradio frequency electromagnetic wave sensor, and other types of sensorsand combinations thereof. One or more of such sensors may also beincluded on a peripheral which is configured to operate with (e.g.exchange data with) the data processing system. Based on the dataacquired by the sensor(s) 110 and sensor(s) on a peripheral, variousresponses may be performed automatically by the data processing systemor the peripheral or both, such as, for example, changing an orientationof the display, silencing an audio signal, activating or deactivatingthe backlight 106a, changing a setting of the input device 105 (e.g.switching between processing or not processing, as an intentional userinput, any input data from an input device), and other responses andcombinations thereof.

In one embodiment, digital RF transceiver 102, digital processing system103 and/or storage device 104 may include one or more integratedcircuits disposed on a printed circuit board (PCB).

FIGS. 6 and 7 illustrate exemplary proximity sensors in accordance withembodiments of the invention. It will be appreciated that, inalternative embodiments, other types of proximity sensors, such ascapacitive sensors or sonar-like sensors, may be used rather than theproximity sensors shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. In FIG. 6, the proximitysensor 120 includes an emitter 122, a detector 124, and a window 126.The emitter 122 generates light in the infrared (IR) bands, and may be,for example, a Light Emitting Diode (LED). The detector 124 isconfigured to detect changes in light intensity and may be, for example,a phototransistor. The window 126 may be formed from translucent orsemi-translucent material. In one embodiment, the window 126 is anacoustic mesh, such as, for example, a mesh typically found with amicrophone or speaker of the portable device. In other embodiments, thewindow 126 may be MicroPerf, IR transparent strands wound in a mesh, ora cold mirror.

During operation, the light from the emitter 122 hits an object 128 andscatters when the object is present above the window 126. The light fromthe emitter may be emitted in square wave pulses which have a knownfrequency, thereby allowing the detector 124 to distinguish betweenambient light and light from emitter 122 which is reflected by anobject, such as the user's head or ear or a material in a user's pocket,back to the detector 124. At least a portion of the scattered light isreflected towards the detector 124. The increase in light intensity isdetected by the detector 124, and this is interpreted by a processingsystem (not shown in FIG. 6) to mean an object is present within a shortdistance of the detector 124. If no object is present or the object isbeyond a certain distance from the detector 124, an insufficient orsmaller amount of the emitted light is reflected back towards thedetector 124, and this is interpreted by the processing system (notshown in FIG. 6) to mean that an object is not present or is at arelatively large distance. In each case, the proximity sensor ismeasuring the intensity of reflected light which is related to thedistance between the object which reflects the light and detector 124.

In one embodiment, the emitter 122 and detector 124 are disposed withinthe housing of a portable device or a peripheral, such as thosedescribed in the present disclosures.

In FIG. 7, the emitter 122 and detector 124 of the proximity sensor areangled inward towards one another to improve detection of the reflectedlight, but the proximity sensor of FIG. 7 otherwise operates in a mannersimilar to the proximity sensor of FIG. 6.

It will be appreciated that at least some of the sensors which are usedwith embodiments of the disclosures may determine or provide data whichrepresents an analog value. In other words, the data represents a valuewhich can be any one of a set of possible values which can varycontinuously or substantially continuously, rather than being discretevalues which have quantum, discrete jumps from one value to the nextvalue. Further, the value represented by the data may not bepredetermined. For example, in the case of a distance measured by aproximity sensor, the distance is not predetermined, unlike values ofkeys on a keypad which represent a predetermined value. For example, aproximity sensor may determine or provide data that represents adistance which can vary continuously or nearly continuously in an analogfashion; in the case of such a proximity sensor, the distance maycorrespond to the intensity of reflected light which originated from theemitter of the proximity sensor. A temperature sensor may determine orprovide data that represents a temperature, which is an analog value. Alight sensor, such as an ambient light sensor, may determine or providedata that represents a light intensity which is an analog value. Amotion sensor, such as an accelerometer, may determine or provide datawhich represents a measurement of motion (e.g. velocity or accelerationor both). A gyroscope may determine or provide data which represents ameasurement of orientation (e.g. amount of pitch or yaw or roll). Asound sensor may determine or provide data which represents ameasurement of sound intensity. For other types of sensors, the datadetermined or provided by the sensor may represent an analog value.

FIG. 8 shows another example of a device according to an embodiment ofthe disclosures. This device may include a processor, such asmicroprocessor 402, and a memory 404, which are coupled to each otherthrough a bus 406. The device 400 may optionally include a cache 408which is coupled to the microprocessor 402. This device may alsooptionally include a display controller and display device 410 which iscoupled to the other components through the bus 406. One or moreinput/output controllers 412 are also coupled to the bus 406 to providean interface for input/output devices 414 and to provide an interfacefor one or more sensors 416 which are for sensing user activity. The bus406 may include one or more buses connected to each other throughvarious bridges, controllers, and/or adapters as is well known in theart. The input/output devices 414 may include a keypad or keyboard or acursor control device such as a touch input panel. Furthermore, theinput/output devices 414 may include at least one network interfacewhich is either for a wired network or a wireless network (e.g. an RFtransceiver such as a WiFi or WPAN RF transceiver). The sensors 416 maybe any one of the sensors described herein including, for example, aproximity sensor or an ambient light sensor. In at least certainimplementations of the device 400, the microprocessor 402 may receivedata from one or more sensors 416 and may perform the analysis of thatdata in the manner described herein. For example, the data may beanalyzed and the microprocessor 402 may then automatically cause anadjustment in one or more settings of the device.

In at least certain embodiments, the data processing system 400 includesat least one sensor 416 to sense whether the data processing system 400moves within an angle with respect to a ground reference for a firsttime period. The system 400 further includes a processor 402 coupled tothe at least one sensor 416. The processor 402 is configured to respondto data received from the at least one sensor 416 by switching anorientation of the data processing system 400 if the data processingsystem 400 moves in excess of the angle.

The processor 402 may be further configured to switch the orientation ifthe device moves within the angle for at least the first time period inresponse to data from the at least one sensor 416. The processor 402 maybe configured in response to data from the at least one sensor 416 todetermine the orientation for the data processing system 400, determinewhether the data processing system 400 moves based on a current positionchanging in comparison to a last position of the data processing system.The processor 402 may be further configured to determine whether thedata processing system 400 moves for a time period, determine if theorientation is portrait if the data processing system 400 is not movingor if the data processing system moves for at least the second timeperiod, and switch the orientation if the data processing system 400orientation was not portrait. The orientation may include a portrait, alandscape counterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, aface up, a face down, and an ambiguous orientation.

FIG. 9 relates to another aspect of the disclosures described herein. Inthis aspect, the data processing system 203 may be considered itself aperipheral relative to another data processing system such as the dataprocessing system 451 which may, in at least certain embodiments, be ageneral purpose computer system such as the system shown in FIG. 8. Thesystem 450 shown in FIG. 9 includes the data processing system 451 whichincludes a network interface and a peripheral interface and storage. Inat least certain embodiments, the data processing system 451 may be ageneral purpose computer system having a keyboard, and a cursor controldevice, and a display as well as a network interface to couple the dataprocessing system to a network 459 which may be the Internet or othernetworks, such as a local area network or a telephone network or a cableTV system network. The network interface may connect to the networkeither through a wired connection or through a wireless connection andthere may be a plurality of network interfaces for different networks ordifferent methods of connecting to the same network or a plurality ofnetworks. The data processing system typically includes non-volatilemass storage which may store user programs and an operating system anduser data including address or contact information, calendarinformation, and URLs such as favorites or bookmarks for browsing theInternet. The peripheral interface of the data processing system 451 isused to couple the data processing system 451 to a dock or otherconnector for peripherals. The dock or other connector may be connectedin a wired or wireless manner to the data processing system 451 throughthe peripheral interface. The dock or connector 453 is designed toconnect to one or more peripherals, such as a first peripheral 457 whichmay be a wireless headset and a second peripheral 455 which may be awireless cellular telephone which includes PDA functionality. In oneembodiment, the data processing system 203 may be the second peripheral455 and the peripheral 201 may be the first peripheral 457. The dock maymechanically hold both peripherals separately or at the same time andmay also electrically connect to both peripherals to provide power tothe peripherals, recharge the batteries of the peripherals, and toexchange data between the peripherals and the data processing system451. The second peripheral 455 may include storage for user information,such as contacts, calendar, and URLs, which may be synchronized with theuser's data of a similar type on the data processing system 451. Theuser may place one or both peripherals on the dock or connector 453 tocause certain actions to occur as described herein or may remove one orboth peripherals to also cause certain actions to occur automatically asdescribed herein. The dock and/or peripherals may include mechanical orelectrical sensors to detect the placement of the peripheral on the dockor connector and the removal of the peripheral from the dock orconnector.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will be evidentthat various modifications may be made thereto without departing fromthe broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in thefollowing claims. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded in an illustrative sense rather than a restrictive sense.

1. A method comprising: receiving a motion event from at least onesensor located in a device; determining an orientation for the device;determining whether the device is currently moving; determining whetherthe device moves within an angle with respect to a ground reference fora first time period; and switching the orientation of a display of thedevice if the device moves in excess of the angle.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: switching the orientation if the devicemoves within the angle for at least the first time period.
 3. The methodof claim 1, further comprising: determining whether the currently movingdevice moves for a second time period; determining if a defaultorientation was portrait if the device is not moving or if the devicemoves for at least the second time period; and switching the orientationif the default orientation was not portrait.
 4. The method of claim 3,further comprising: waiting for a new motion event from at least onesensor located in a device if the device moves for less than the secondtime period.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein determining whether thedevice moves occurs based on a current position changing in comparisonto a last position of the device.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein theat least one sensor comprises at least one of an accelerometer, agyroscope, a proximity, a sound, a light, and a motion sensor.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the orientation comprises one of a portrait,landscape counterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, aface up, a face down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 8. The method ofclaim 1, wherein switching the orientation if the device moved in excessof the angle occurs based on the motion event being predictably causedby an intentional user action.
 9. The method of claim 1, whereinswitching the orientation if the device moved within the angle for atleast the time period occurs based on the motion event being predictablycaused by an intentional user action.
 10. The method of claim 1, whereinswitching the orientation if the device orientation was not portraitoccurs based on the motion event being predictably caused by anintentional user action.
 11. A machine readable medium storingexecutable program instructions which when executed cause a dataprocessing system to perform a method comprising: receiving a motionevent from at least one sensor located in a device; determining anorientation for the device; determining whether the device is currentlymoving; determining whether the device moves within an angle withrespect to a ground reference for a first time period; and switching theorientation if the device moves in excess of the angle.
 12. The mediumof claim 11, further comprising: switching the orientation if the devicemoves within the angle for at least the time period.
 13. The medium ofclaim 11, further comprising: determining whether the currently movingdevice moves for a second time period; determining if a defaultorientation was portrait if the device is not moving or if the devicemoves for at least the second time period; and switching the orientationif the orientation was not portrait.
 14. The medium of claim 13, furthercomprising: waiting for a new motion event from at least one sensorlocated in a device if the device moves for less than the second timeperiod.
 15. The medium of claim 11, wherein determining whether thedevice moves occurs based on a current position changing in comparisonto a last position of the device.
 16. The medium of claim 11, whereinthe at least one sensor comprises at least one of an accelerometer, agyroscope, a proximity, a sound, a light, and a motion sensor.
 17. Themedium of claim 11, wherein the orientation comprises one of a portrait,a landscape counterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, aface up, a face down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 18. The medium ofclaim 11, wherein switching the orientation if the device moved inexcess of the angle occurs based on the motion event being predictablycaused by an intentional user action.
 19. The medium of claim 11,wherein switching the orientation if the device moved within the anglefor at least the time period occurs based on the motion event beingpredictably caused by an intentional user action.
 20. The medium ofclaim 11, wherein switching the orientation if the device orientationwas not portrait occurs based on the motion event being predictablycaused by an intentional user action.
 21. A method comprising:determining a device vector associated with a device, the device vectorindicates an orientation of the device to a ground reference;determining a peripheral vector associated with a peripheral of thedevice, the peripheral vector indicates an orientation of the peripheralto the ground reference; generating an audio signal associated with anevent from the device; and determining whether the peripheral vectorpoints towards the device vector in response to the audio signal. 22.The method of claim 21, further comprising: silencing the audio signalif the peripheral vector points towards the device vector in response tothe audio signal.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the peripheralvector points towards the device vector in response to the audio signalbased on the peripheral vector not pointing towards the device vectorprior to the audio signal being generated.
 24. The method of claim 22,further comprising: ignoring the audio signal if the peripheral vectordoes not point towards the device vector in response to the audiosignal.
 25. The method of claim 24, wherein the peripheral vector doesnot point towards the device vector in response to the audio signalbased on the peripheral vector pointing towards the device vector priorto and after the audio signal is generated.
 26. The method of claim 21,wherein determining of the peripheral vector occurs based on a userwearing the peripheral.
 27. The method of claim 21, wherein the eventcomprises at least one of: a calendar event, a phone call, an alarmevent, a to do event, an email event, and a reminder event.
 28. Themethod of claim 21, wherein the audio signal represents a voice command.29. The method of claim 28, further comprising: acknowledging the voicecommand if the peripheral vector moves in a horizontal direction withrespect to a ground reference.
 30. The method of claim 29, furthercomprising: rejecting the voice command if the peripheral vector movesin a vertical direction with respect to the ground reference.
 31. Amachine readable medium storing executable program instructions whichwhen executed cause a data processing system to perform a methodcomprising: determining a device vector associated with a device, thedevice vector indicates an orientation of the device to a groundreference; determining a peripheral vector associated with a peripheralof the device, the peripheral vector indicates an orientation of theperipheral to the ground reference; generating an audio signalassociated with an event from the device; and determining whether theperipheral vector points towards the device vector in response to theaudio signal.
 32. The medium of claim 31, further comprising: silencingthe audio signal if the peripheral vector points towards the devicevector in response to the audio signal.
 33. The medium of claim 32,wherein the peripheral vector points towards the device vector inresponse to the audio signal based on the peripheral vector not pointingtowards the device vector prior to the audio signal being generated. 34.The medium of claim 32, further comprising: ignoring the audio signal ifthe peripheral vector does not point towards the device vector inresponse to the audio signal.
 35. The medium of claim 34, wherein theperipheral vector does not point towards the device vector in responseto the audio signal based on the peripheral vector pointing towards thedevice vector prior to and after the audio signal is generated.
 36. Themedium of claim 31, wherein determining of the peripheral vector occursbased on a user wearing the peripheral.
 37. The medium of claim 31,wherein the event comprises at least one of: a calendar event, a phonecall, an alarm event, a to do event, an email event, and a reminderevent.
 38. The medium of claim 31, wherein the audio signal represents avoice command.
 39. The medium of claim 38, further comprising:acknowledging the voice command if the peripheral vector moves in ahorizontal direction with respect to a ground reference.
 40. The mediumof claim 39, further comprising: rejecting the voice command if theperipheral vector moves in a vertical direction with respect to theground reference.
 41. A data processing system, comprising: at least onesensor to sense whether the data processing system moves within an anglewith respect to a ground reference for a first time period; and aprocessor coupled to the at least one sensor, the processor configuredto respond to data received from the at least one sensor by switching anorientation of the data processing system if the data processing systemmoves in excess of the angle.
 42. The data processing system of claim41, wherein the processor is configured to switch the orientation if thedevice moves within the angle for at least the first time period inresponse to data from the at least one sensor.
 43. The data processingsystem of claim 41, wherein the processor is configured in response todata from the at least one sensor to determine the orientation for thedata processing system, determine whether the data processing systemmoves, determine whether the data processing system moves for a timeperiod, determine if the orientation is portrait if the data processingsystem is not moving or if the data processing system moves for at leastthe second time period, and switch the orientation if the dataprocessing system orientation was not portrait.
 44. The data processingsystem of claim 43, wherein determining whether the data processingsystem moves occurs based on a current position changing in comparisonto a last position of the data processing system.
 45. The dataprocessing system of claim 41, wherein the at least one sensor comprisesat least one of an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a proximity, a sound, alight, and a motion sensor.
 46. The data processing system of claim 41,wherein the orientation comprises one of a portrait, a landscapecounterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, a face up, aface down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 47. A system comprising: aperipheral; a device for use with the peripheral; wherein the peripheralcomprises: a peripheral interface to couple the peripheral to thedevice; at least one peripheral sensor to sense a user of theperipheral; a peripheral processor coupled to the peripheral interfaceand to the at least one peripheral sensor, the peripheral processorconfigured to determine a peripheral vector indicating an orientation ofthe peripheral to a ground reference; wherein the device comprises: aninterface to couple the device to the peripheral; at least one sensor tosense the user; a processor coupled to the interface and to the at leastone sensor, the processor configured to determine a device vectorindicating an orientation of the device to the ground reference;initiate an audio signal associated with an event; and determine whetherthe peripheral vector points towards the device vector in response tothe audio signal.
 48. The system of claim 47, wherein the processor isfurther configured to silence the audio signal if the peripheral vectorpoints towards the device vector in response to the audio signal. 49.The system of claim 48, wherein the peripheral vector points towards thedevice vector in response to the audio signal based on the peripheralvector not pointing towards the device vector prior to the audio signalbeing generated.
 50. The system of claim 48, wherein the processor isfurther configured to ignore the audio signal if the peripheral vectordoes not point towards the device vector in response to the audiosignal.
 51. The system of claim 50, wherein the peripheral vector doesnot point towards the device vector in response to the audio signalbased on the peripheral vector pointing towards the device vector priorto and after the audio signal is generated.
 52. The system of claim 47,wherein determining of the peripheral vector occurs based on a userwearing the peripheral.
 53. The system of claim 47, wherein the eventcomprises at least one of: a calendar event, a phone call, an alarmevent, a to do event, an email event, and a reminder event.
 54. Thesystem of claim 54, wherein the audio signal represents a voice command.55. The system of claim 55, further comprising: acknowledging the voicecommand if the peripheral vector moves in a vertical direction withrespect to a ground reference.
 56. The system of claim 54, furthercomprising: rejecting the voice command if the peripheral vector movesin a horizontal direction with respect to the ground reference.
 57. Thesystem as in claim 47 wherein the peripheral interface comprises awireless transceiver which wirelessly couples the device to theperipheral and wherein the peripheral further comprises a speakercoupled to the peripheral interface and a microphone coupled to theperipheral interface and wherein the wireless transceiver transmitsfirst audio data from the microphone to the device and wherein thewireless transceiver receives second audio data from the device andpasses the second audio data to the speaker and wherein the devicecomprises a wireless mobile telephone transceiver.
 58. The system as inclaim 57 wherein at least one of the peripheral processor and theprocessor receive data from at least one of the at least one peripheralsensor and the at least one sensor and determine, based on the data,whether to use the speaker and the microphone for a phone callcommunicated through the wireless mobile telephone transceiver.
 59. Thesystem as in claim 58 wherein the at least one peripheral sensorcomprises at least one of (a) a proximity sensor; (b) an ambient lightsensor; (c) a temperature sensor; (d) an accelerometer; (e) a positionsensor; (f) an orientation sensor; and (g) a sound sensor; and whereinthe at least one sensor comprises at least one of (a) a proximitysensor; (b) an ambient light sensor; (c) a temperature sensor; (d) anaccelerometer; (e) a position sensor; (f) an orientation sensor; and (g)a sound sensor.
 60. The system as in claim 59 wherein the peripheralprocessor configures the speaker and the microprocessor automatically inresponse to outputs from the at least one peripheral sensor and the atleast one sensor.
 61. The system as in claim 60 wherein the speaker andthe microphone are enabled to provide output/input capabilities for aphone call when the at least one peripheral sensor senses that theperipheral is next to the user's ear and wherein the speaker and themicrophone are not enabled to provide the output/input capabilities whenthe at least one sensor senses that the device is next to the user'sear.
 62. The system as in claim 61 wherein the peripheral interfacetransmits the output from the at least one peripheral sensor to thedevice which processes the output from the at least one peripheralsensor and the output from the at least one sensor and determineswhether to enable the speaker and the microphone and transmits aninstruction to the peripheral indicating whether to enable the speakerand the microphone.
 63. The system as in claim 61 wherein the peripheralprocessor, through the peripheral interface, receives the output fromthe at least one sensor and processes the output from the at least onesensor and the output from the at least one peripheral sensor todetermine whether to enable the speaker and the microphone.
 64. Anapparatus comprising: means for receiving a motion event from at leastone sensor located in a device; means for determining an orientation forthe device; means for determining whether the device is currentlymoving; means for determining whether the device moves within an anglewith respect to a ground reference for a first time period; and meansfor switching the orientation if the device moves in excess of theangle.
 65. An apparatus comprising: means for determining a devicevector associated with a device, the device vector indicates anorientation of the device to a ground reference; means for determining aperipheral vector associated with a peripheral, the peripheral vectorindicates an orientation of the peripheral to the ground reference;means for generating an audio signal associated with an event from thedevice; and means for determining whether the peripheral vector pointstowards the device vector in response to the audio signal.
 66. A methodcomprising: receiving a motion event from at least one sensor located ina device; determining a current orientation for the device; determiningwhether the device is currently moving; and determining if the currentorientation matches a default orientation based on the device notcurrently moving.
 67. The method of claim 66, further comprising:switching the orientation if the current orientation does not match thedefault orientation.
 68. The method of claim 66, further comprising:determining whether the device moved within an angle with respect to aground reference for a first time period if the current orientationmatches the default orientation; and switching the orientation of adisplay of the device if the device moved in excess of the angle. 69.The method of claim 68, further comprising: switching the orientation ifthe device moved within the angle for at least the first time period.70. The method of claim 66, further comprising: determining whether thecurrently moving device moves for a second time period; and determiningif the current orientation is the same as the default orientation if thedevice moves for at least the second time period.
 71. The method ofclaim 70, further comprising: waiting for a new motion event from atleast one sensor located in a device if the device moves for less thanthe second time period.
 72. The method of claim 66, wherein determiningwhether the device moves occurs based on a current position changing incomparison to a last position of the device.
 73. The method of claim 66,wherein the current orientation comprises one of a portrait, a landscapecounterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, a face up, aface down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 74. The method of claim 66,wherein the default orientation comprises one of a portrait, a landscapecounterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, a face up, aface down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 75. The method of claim 66,wherein switching the orientation if the device moved in excess of theangle occurs based on the motion event being predictably caused by anintentional user action.
 76. The method of claim 66, wherein switchingthe orientation if the device moved within the angle for at least thefirst time period occurs based on the motion event being predictablycaused by an intentional user action.
 77. The method of claim 66,wherein switching the orientation if the current orientation does notmatch the default orientation occurs based on the motion event beingpredictably caused by an intentional user action.
 78. A machine readablemedium storing executable program instructions which when executed causea data processing system to perform a method comprising: receiving amotion event from at least one sensor located in a device; determining acurrent orientation for the device; determining whether the device iscurrently moving; and determining if the current orientation matches adefault orientation based on the device not currently moving.
 79. Themedium of claim 78, further comprising: switching the orientation if thecurrent orientation does not match the default orientation.
 80. Themedium of claim 78, further comprising: determining whether the devicemoved within an angle with respect to a ground reference for a firsttime period if the current orientation matches the default orientation;and switching the orientation of a display of the device if the devicemoved in excess of the angle.
 81. The medium of claim 80, furthercomprising: switching the orientation if the device moved within theangle for at least the first time period.
 82. The medium of claim 78,further comprising: determining whether the currently moving devicemoves for a second time period; and determining if the currentorientation is the same as the default oriention if the device moves forat least the second time period.
 83. The medium of claim 82, furthercomprising: waiting for a new motion event from at least one sensorlocated in a device if the device moves for less than the second timeperiod.
 84. The medium of claim 78, wherein determining whether thedevice moves occurs based on a current position changing in comparisonto a last position of the device.
 85. The medium of claim 78, whereinthe current orientation comprises one of a portrait, a landscapecounterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, a face up, aface down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 86. The medium of claim 78,wherein the default orientation comprises one of a portrait, a landscapecounterclockwise, a landscape clockwise, an upside down, a face up, aface down, and an ambiguous orientation.
 87. The medium of claim 78,wherein switching the orientation if the device moved in excess of theangle occurs based on the motion event being predictably caused by anintentional user action.
 88. The medium of claim 78, wherein switchingthe orientation if the device moved within the angle for at least thefirst time period occurs based on the motion event being predictablycaused by an intentional user action.
 89. The medium of claim 78,wherein switching the orientation if the current orientation does notmatch the default orientation occurs based on the motion event beingpredictably caused by an intentional user action.